'Moon Over Buffalo'

McPherson High School students will perform “Moon Over Buffalo” at 7:30 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 for students and $3 senior citizens.

By Jenae PaulsStaff Writer

McPherson High School students will perform "Moon Over Buffalo" at 7:30 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 for students and $3 senior citizens.Set in the 1950s, a second-rate traveling repertory stage company finds themselves presenting a pair of plays in Buffalo, N.Y. The company owners (and lead actors) George and Charlotte Hay, are a married couple in their 50s. The couple's daughter, Roz, has just returned to see her parents with a new beau, having decided to leave the theater life and a former boyfriend (Paul - the company manager). Antics begin when George is confronted by a young girl who claims to be carrying his baby, driving Charlotte temporarily into the arms of a long-time admirer."The audience will enjoy the silly slapstick humor," Greg McGlynn, director, said. "The older generation will remember Carol Burnett, this was written with her in mind. People like that."Student cast members have been working on the show for about five weeks, many of them fairly new to the stage following a large theatrical graduating class last year. McGlynn said he has enjoyed watching them step up to the plate."To see them all of the sudden forming these middle-aged characters, to see them get that timing with all the farce and the door slamming, it's been fun to see them fall into that role," he said.McGlynn, who has been working with theater for 31 years, also said the difficulty level the play has set the bar high, especially as it is a play within a play. This is the first time McPherson High School has performed this play."It's been great training for them for next year," he said. "If they can handle this, that makes them think they can go on and try more difficult shows."MHS cast includes John Blake as George Hay, Dara Quastad as Charlotte Hay, Isabella Harvey as Ethel, Nicole Gieselman as Rosalind, Cedric Shell as Howard, Anna Lindholm as Eileen, Jackson Wingert as Paul, Alex Conrardy as Richard, and Anna Bahre, Molly Black and Bethany Bouray as soldiers.